Ezekiel 23:14-24

14 And she increased her whorings, and she saw men carved on the wall, images of Chaldeans carved in red
15 belted with a belt at their waist with turbans on their heads, all of them [giving] [the] appearance of adjutants, the image of the {Babylonians}; Chaldea [was] the land of their birth.
16 And she lusted for them {when her eyes saw them}, and she sent messengers to them [at] Chaldea.
17 And so the {Babylonians} came to her [for the] bed of lovemaking; and they defiled her with their fornication, and she was defiled by them, and she turned from them.
18 And she revealed her whorings, and she revealed her nakedness, and so I turned from her {just as} I turned from her sister.
19 Yet she increased her whorings, {recalling} the days of her childhood when she was prostituted in the land of Egypt
20 And she lusted after her male lovers whose genitalia [were the] genitalia of male donkeys and [their] seminal emission [was the] seminal emission of horses.
21 And you longed [after] the obscene conduct of your youth when your bosom was caressed by Egypt, fondling your young breasts.
22 "Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I [am] stirring up your lovers against you [concerning] whom you turned away, and I will bring them against you from all around:
23 the {Babylonians} and all of the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all of the {Assyrians} [along] with them, {handsome young men}, governors and prefects, all of them adjutants {and excellent horsemen}.
24 And they will come against you [with] an army chariot and wagon and with a crowd of peoples; they will set [themselves] against you [from] all around [with] large shield and small shield and helmet. And I will give {before them} judgment, and they will judge you with their judgments.

Ezekiel 23:14-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 23

In this chapter the idolatries of Israel and Judah are represented under the metaphor of two harlots, and their lewdness. These harlots are described by their descent; by the place and time in which they committed their whoredoms; by their names, and which are explained, Eze 23:1-4, the idolatries of Israel, or the ten tribes, under the name of Aholah, which they committed with the Assyrians, and which they continued from the Egyptians, of whom they had learned them, are exposed, Eze 23:5-8, and their punishment for them is declared, Eze 23:9,10 then the idolatries of Judah, or the two tribes, under the name of Aholibah, are represented as greater than those of the ten tribes, Eze 23:11, which they committed with the Assyrians, Eze 23:12, with the Chaldeans and Babylonians, Eze 23:13-18 in imitation of the Egyptians, reviving former idolatries learnt of them, Eze 23:19-21, wherefore they are threatened, that the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians, should come against them, and spoil them, and carry them captive, Eze 23:22-35, and the prophet is bid to declare the abominable sin of them both, Eze 23:36-44, and to signify that they should be judged after the manner of adulteresses, should be stoned, and dispatched with swords, their sons and their daughters, and their houses burnt with fire; by which means their adulteries or idolatries should be made to cease, Eze 23:45-49.

as the Targum; another prophecy, one upon the same subject, as in Eze 16:1,

\\saying\\; as follows:

28967-950611-1613-Eze23.2

Footnotes 19

  • [a]. Or "portrayed"
  • [b]. According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  • [c]. Or "around"
  • [d]. Or "officers"
  • [e]. Or "likeness"
  • [f]. Literally "sons of Babylon"
  • [g]. Literally "at the sight of her eyes"
  • [h]. Literally "sons of Babylon"
  • [i]. Literally "as that"
  • [j]. Or "And"
  • [k]. Or "remembering"
  • [l]. Or "prostituted [herself]"
  • [m]. Literally "sons of Babylon"
  • [n]. Literally "sons of Assyria"
  • [o]. Literally "young men of beauty/handsomeness"
  • [p]. Or "officers"
  • [q]. Literally "ones called riders of horses"
  • [r]. Or "horde" or "host of"
  • [s]. Literally "to the face of them"
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